Weight carrying conveyer for foundries



H. E. FELLOWS ET AL WEIGHT CARRYING CQNVEYER FOR FOUNDRIES Oct. 9, 1951 Filed May 14, 1948 1951 H. E. FELLOWS ET AL ER FOR FOUNDRIES WEIGHT CARRYING CONVEY 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 14, 1948 INVENTORJ HHEE/fiafl 5 Feaaows Arrae/vsvs Oct. 9, 1951 H. E. FELLOWS ET AL WEIGHT CARRYING CONVEYER FOR FOUNDRIES 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 14, 1948 s, Y am w E Ma m E m mi My NE Patented Oct. 9, 1951 WEIGHT CARRYING CONVEYER FOR FOUNDBIES Harrison E. Fellows and Maurice 0. Holtan, Milwaukee, Wis. said Holtan assignor to said Fellows Application May 14, 1948, Serial No. 27,038

7 Claims. (Cl. 2220) This invention relates to weight and mold handling apparatus for foundries. 7

It is a primary object of the invention to render as nearly automatic'as possible the transportation and handling of molds and the weights which are superimposed thereon to hold the cope to the drag during pouring. More specifically, it is the object of the invention to provide a construction in which the several molds are moved on to rotatably adjustable carriers on a conveyor system and moved from point to point and turned from side to side as required, the weights being lifted by a separate conveyor system to position on the copes, deposited there, and removed by the same conveyor system at another point in the travel of the mold;

The specific construction of the conveyors and carriages and weight handling apparatus and the organization of the several parts with regard to each other and to the work'to be handled are important features of the invention as will hereinafter more fully appear from the following disclosure thereof.

In the drawings:

Fig. 11s a diagrammatic plan view of apparatus embodying the invention, the relative positions of the mold carriers and weights being diagrammatically illustrated thereon.

Fig. 2 is a view taken in cross section through the apparatus in the plane indicated at 22 in Fig. 1

Fig. 3 is a view of portions of the apparatus 'in'section and other portions in side elevation in the plane indicated at 33 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail view in perspective of one of the weights and a portion of the apparatus for the handling thereof.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail view in side elevation of one of the carriers as it appears from the point indicated on the line 55 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view in side elevation of one of the carriers.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view in front elevation of one of the carriers.

Fig. 8 is a still further enlarged detail view in transverse section on the line 88 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary detail view of a portion of one of the conveyors including a fragment of one of the carriers suspended therefrom, and also showing an indexing cam.

Fig. 10 is a detail view taken in section on the line indicated at |lll ll in Fig. 9.

My apparatus comprises an elongated mold handling conveyor l5 and a relatively short weight handling conveyor l6. Each comprises molten iron is poured into the molds.

an overhead track ll (Figs. 8 and 9) beneath which operates an endless chain [8 composed of mutually pivoted links I9, 20 and special links at 2| for the load carrying portions of the chain, these latter links also supporting the chain itself from the overhead track by means of arms 22 carrying wheels 23 operating on the track ll.

In the case of the Weight handling conveyor IS, the chain indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, passes around but two sprockets 24, 25, either of which may comprise the driver. In the case of the much longer mold handling chain l5, which pursues quite a devious path, the chain passes around the sprockets 26, 21, 28, 29, 30, 3!, 32, 33 and 34, any one of which may be the driver.

The general organization of the apparatus may best be understood from the diagrammatic illustration of Fig. 1 before the details of the mechanism are described.

InFig. 1, the small rectangles shown at 5a in significant locations represent the carriers. At the loading zone A these are aligned with the conveyor track to receive molds which are represented by the small rectangles 36 and are loaded gr; to the carriers from the roller type conveyor At A, as indicated by the symbols in Fig. 1, the carriers and the superposed molds are indexed in the course of their advance along the conveyor to position the molds to receive the weights which are loaded thereon as a preliminary to pouring.

At the Weighting station B, weights represented by the sma.l rectangles 38 are added to the mods 36. These pass With the mo-ds to the turning station C where the carrier is reversed in position, and to the pouring station D where Throughout the track of conveyor it; beyond the pouring station is the setting zone E. Ultimately, the carriers pass through another turning zone F to the unvveighting zone G, beyond which they are again turned in the turning zone H. Coding continues through the cooling zone I and the dumping of the mold and casting are finally effected at J. The carrier is finally restored to its original pOSiLiOn in the turning zone K to receive a newly delivered mold to be Loaded thereon at station A as above described.

For details of the carrier, reference is now made to Figs. 6 to 10.

Suspended from the special links 2|, which are substituted in spaced pairs forlinks 29 in the conveyor chain, are the suspension bars 40 (Fig. 9) which support a bridge comprising spaced -rier.

a bottom member 52 and a laterally offset single A side member 53, the latter being braged by gus: sets 56, 55 from the top and bottommer'noers to make a rigid carrier. The entire carrier is'rotatable about the vertical axis (ofmthe suspending pintle shaft 52, but the complementary convoluted surfaces of the cams 45, resist rotation from indexed positions which are 90f apart, there being four convolutions in each c'ain. 'In "an 7 one of these positions, the carrier .tendslto remain non-rotatable but gby the application of a sufiicient rotatingforcan the gcarrier will beraised i htly pon h .v re pe t v am .145, an caused to iDdGXQO to the next successive position.

Mounted on thej l l f ba H rier is a tiltable sub-frame (Figs. 5, 6 and 7) The sub-frame isvpivoted on pintles 58 sufficiently toward the outside of the carrier so that the sub-frame normally is perfectly stable.

Mounted on the tiltable sub-frame are a num- H ber of rollers 5% comprising, a short conveyor assembly for facilitating the movement of palletsupported molds onto the sub -frame. To preclude the pallets from moving too rapidly across the rollers 59, I may apply ashort piece of'shee t metal at (Figs. 5, 6 and 7), across two of the rollers to act .as a friction brake. As the pallet Etrideson 'to theserollersin the manner. shown in Figs. 5 and '7, a portion thereof may rest upon the brake strap 6!! to assist in bringing the pallet to restat the desired central point on ,the car- Also providedis an upstanding finger at G3 which engages within .one of thetpallet runners to hold the pallet "on theconveyor when the 'mold and casting are dumped atthe unloading station J, this being accomplished by a pneumatic jack having acylinder fiilpplunger 65,.and a roller 66 operatingagainst the ..lower surface .Slat the rear of the 'sub=frame. '..When1this cylthe conveyor chain, are the rollers 12 suspended from overhead by brackets 13 and located wherever indexing movement of the carrier is desired. In the device asshown, the indexing movemen t always occurs in the same direction and'its angu- V lar extent is in each operation. Thus, "at A in Fig. 1, the indexing movement is counterclockwise and involves'a single operation. 'However, at station C, where it"is necessary to index the carrier this 'is'done in. two successive H, in clearing the roller 12, will tend to move.

exactly 90. The complementary cam members 45 and 46 coaxial with the supporting pivoted rod 42 on which each carrier oscillates assure the accuracy of the angular movement.

The conveyor H5 is located at a lower level as is clearly shown in Fig. 2. Its track H6 is identical with the track I! of conveyor I 5 with the exception thatfit has at stations B and G inclined portions 15 (Fig. 3). Fig. 3 happens to show station G but a view of station B would present a counterpart.

Thechain an'd'its suspending arm and rollers are the same in this conveyor as in the main conveyon However, the carriers 16 comprise merely j bars w ich hang downwardly from the chain and ar,e:provided at their lower ends with a cross rod 11 (Fig. 4) which constitutes oppositelyextending arms with free ends.

.Each of the weights 38 has a pair of spaced brackets 18 which extend upwardly from one side thereofandacross:the center to points above thelongitudinalcenter of balance. 'Hfer'eeach r the brackets it carries an inverted channel 79 with upwardly 'oonv ergingsides in which therad "ll of the suspending bar "i6 is freely movable 'to and from engagement. The arrangement is such thatthere is plenty of clearance beneath the channel 19 for the hanger T1 'to'mo've to and from position when disengaged fromthe channels. Thus the hangers are enabled to pick up and deposit the weights entirely "automatically. I Referring to Figs. 1 Ziand 3, 'it will be'observed that Fig. 3 shows the parts 'asj'they appear at station G at which 'a casting has jalrea'dy been poured and is be fing in the'mold .35. The mold, comprisin drag 36Bfcbp'et6l "and jacket 352 is resting onthe conveyor section 59 of thefsubframeifi of the carrier EH3. 'Ihefweight 38 has beensuperii nposed "on the hope throughout the pouring operation. Itfis new desired'to remove this weight. I Accordinglyfcarrier T6 of the secondary conveyorhl't has 'just arrived aroundthe pulley 25 and the pro'xih'iityof the"t'w'o conveyors at station G has brought therodffl directly beheath the receiving channels'TB on the weight rafi i l 1 g a h imcld pantie: .9 and. e e 16 move in 5.91} .irenrri t .t l in Fi th i li ed nqrt qnlwf track of "conveycrlfi i s r eached, whereupon therod 17 moves up into engagement with mumm e "1'9 Lasshown in the intermediate position in Fig. 3.

With continued movement of the conveyorsfrom right to 'left a further lifting of the c arriefr '15 will ensue, whereby the weight 3 8 will be lifted clear of the cope fiiit and returned around the sprocket 24 to be replaced upon another mold at station B. The replacing operation is simply the converse of that illustrated in Fig 3, the w t in w red "9n 399 e 5 91 th ontinued downward imoyement of the carrier 16 freeing its rod 1! from the channel 19 and the rod being thereupon withdrawn by passage oflthe conveyor around the-sprocket 2 5 in one direction, while the'mold conveyor passes in an opposite directionaround the;sprocketjji w s x Where a variety of differentr molds are being poured at the same time, and 'dilfereiit sizes of weights are require d. it is nlyncgessary to; substitute different carrier links IE to compensate for. an .chanewin. hei htfli t respective weights. In such cases; assuming thattheretare ten carrier links on the secondary conveyor Hi,

we arrange our molds .in .sequence corresponding to thesequence of the links so that every;time a given link brings a weight of a given size to the weighting station B, the mom receiving the weight at such station will be the propermold for that weight. This means that the weight must have beenremoved in properly timed sequence from the unloading station G, a synchronism readily achieved if the molds repeat themselves with the same frequency as there are carriers on the secondary conveyor.

A' device made in accordance with the present disclosure will function entirely automatically, requiring neither manual effort nor even guidance to place and remove the weights or to effect the indexing of the carriers. The operation may be briefly reviewed:

The molds, each comprising a cope, drag and jacket, arrive, fully assembled on conveyor 31. At station A the short roller conveyor section with which each of the carriers 50 is provided, registers momentarily with conveyor 31 and the assembled mold is rolled on to the carrier. At station A, the carrier indexes 90 to a position for receiving the weight 38 which is transported to it by secondary conveyor Hi from another carrier which has been unloaded at station G. At station B, the weight is placed on the new mold automatically through the relative change of heights resulting from the movement of the secondary conveyor respecting its inclined track as above described. Thereupon the carrier of the secondary conveyor moves, without any weight, around sprocket it while the loaded carrier 50 moves around sprocket 26 to station C where it experiences two successive indexing movements,

causing it to face in the opposite direction with respect to its conveyor. This faces the mold outwardly to receive the molten metal at the pouring station. After pouring, the metal is given time to set and then, at F, two successive indexing operations occur which again face the carrier inwardly for weight removal, which occurs at station G. The empty carrier 16 of the secondary conveyor swings around the sprocket I6 with its lifting rod 17 at a considerably lower level than the receiving channel 19 of the weight. After the parts have registered as shown at the right in Fig. 3, the inclined track lifts the carrier thereby picking the weight from the mold and swinging it around the sprocket 24 for reuse on another mold. Meantime, the empty mold is again subjected to a double indexing adjustment at station H and thereupon continues to cool until it is finally dumped at station J.

We claim:

1. A device of the character described comprising a mold conveyor and a weight transferring conveyor, the said conveyors having two parallel portions to and from which said conveyors laterally converge and diverge, mold carriers suspended from the mold conveyor and provided with swiveled connections therewith for carrier indexing movement, the respective carriers having laterally accessible loading surfaces, and a plurality of indexing means for unidirectionally indexing the laterally open surface to various positions respecting the mold conveyor, said indexing means including a'first indexing device for indexing the carrier to render its surface accessible outwardly to receive a, mold, a second indexing device for rotating said carrier to render such surface accessible inwardly to receive from said weighting conveyor a weight on saidrmold, said weighting conveyor having a pick-up rod for alignment and for movement out of alignment with a weight in converging and diverging movement of said conveyors, the weighting conveyor comprising weight lifting carriers and a weight each freely disengageable from its respective carrier upon relative vertical movement therebetween, the weighting conveyor including a track having an inclined portion for effecting such movement.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a mold handling conveyor and a weight handling conveyor, the two conveyors having a plurality of parallel runs, of mold carriers movable with the mold handling conveyor, weight carriers movable with the weight handling conveyor, the two conveyors being provided with means for their operation in synchronism, and weights having vertically engageable and disengageable hooks for detachable connection with the respective weight carriers, one of the parallel runs at each point where said runs are parallel being provided with means for effecting relative vertical movement between said carriers for the transfer of a weight from one to the other.

3. The device of claim 2 in which the means for effecting relative vertical movement comprises an inclined track with Which one of the conveyors is provided.

4. The device of claim 2 in which each weight has a pair of spaced brackets extending upwardly from one of its sides and overhanging toward the center thereof and provided with longitudinally spaced downwardly opening channel-shaped hooks, the weight conveyor having oppositely projecting arms engageable in the respective hooks.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with a weight transfer conveyor comprising an overhead track, a chain circuitously following the track rollers mounted on the track and supporting the chain, and sprockets over which the chain operates, the track being endless, weight suspension members depending from said chain and supported by said rollers, oppositely projecting arms on said members, weights having overhanging brackets provided with hooks engageable with said arms at opposite sides of said members, and a, mold handlingconveyor having a circuitous path including two runs contiguous to portions of the weight handling conveyor, mold carriers movable along the mold handling conveyor, the weight handling conveyor being directly beneath the mold handling conveyor at said runs, and said carriers being vertically elongated and having lateral openings sufiicient to accommodate the weight handling conveyor, together with means for effecting relative vertical movement between the mold handling conveyor and the said arms for vertically adjusting the Weight onto and away from a mold on the mold handling conveyor.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination with a mold handling conveyor comprising an overhead track, a conveyor chain movable along the track, and a plurality of carriers swiveled to said chain for indexing suspension therefrom, each of said carriers having a top and a bottom and being open at its side, the bottom comprising a mold support exposed at the open side of the carrier, together with a Weight transferring conveyor mounted to move in a path convergent upon and then divergent from the mold handling conveyor and having a portion disposed directly beneath the track of the mold conveyor, said weight transferring conveyor lying within the open sides of successive carriers moving along the track of the mold conveyor, the weight transferring conveyor comprising weight carriers adapted to transfer Pa load onto :and away from the carriers :of the conveyor first mentioned, Weight means fo'r such transfer lbei-ng provided with 'interengageabl'e surfaces laterally open for interengagement with the Weight transferring conveyor in the converging movement-20f said conveyors.

7. The deviceof claim '6 .in further .ccombination with aiweight detachably hooked to a Weight carrier, vand a means for effecting relative vertical movement of the weight carrier with respect -J30 a mold "carrier within the 10136151 side thereof :toxan extent :su'fficient .to transfersaid weight from-one of'said'carriers to the other.

7 HARRISON FELLOWS. .MAURICE O. :HOLTAN. 

